With his blue cloak and gold gift, Johan Bodar (65) will travel through the streets of Den Bosch again next weekend on his camel. He has been playing the role of King Melchior during the Epiphany procession for 40 years. This will be celebrated extra grandly this year because of the 100th anniversary. “I want to continue this tradition,” he says.
As a little boy, Johan walked in the Epiphany procession in Den Bosch, singing with a lantern in his hand. “My father and two friends decided years ago to play those three kings. Because there was an Epiphany procession, but without kings and camels,” says Johan. “I went to see him every year with my mother and brothers.”
When his father died 40 years ago, Johan took over the role of Melchior. “They had agreed that if someone, in Bosch style, quit, the eldest child would take over. I didn’t know anything about that, but decided to just do it.”
“It is a tradition that we must continue.”
Johan has been wearing the same coat as his father for all these years. The blue cloak needs to be replaced this year, but the resident of Den Bosch does not have to replace it yet. “I cannot describe in words how wonderful it is to see children enjoying the parade. And I secretly enjoy all the attention I get that day,” he says with a laugh.
But the local from Den Bosch also thinks it is important to tell the story of Epiphany to children, including his own grandchildren. “I don’t want to win souls, but it is a tradition that we must continue,” he says.
The parade is more than just tradition. It is a street theater with horses, ladies-in-waiting, cute angels and shepherds with their sheep. The procession ends at St. John’s, where the story is told of the Three Wise Men who traveled to Bethlehem on December 25, each with a present for the baby Jesus. “I think it is even more important to pass on the idea behind it from generation to generation. That you think of each other and have something left for someone else.”
“It’s getting busier again during the celebration.”
In 1924, the first Epiphany activity was held in Den Bosch: an Epiphany singing competition followed by a tour through the city with 1,500 children. “Not many people do that anymore these days,” Johan immediately responds.
According to him, this is because fewer and fewer parents are raising their children religiously. “I went to church with my parents every Sunday until I was a teenager. That is outdated, so I think that is why the popularity of Epiphany has decreased considerably.”
Yet Johan notices that the Epiphany procession is slowly attracting more people. “All children participating in the tour are welcome to sit at the front of the altar while we tell the story. Then every year I see that it gets busier again. There are now hundreds of children again,” he says. According to the Driekoningen ‘s-Hertogenbosch Foundation, nowhere in the Netherlands is the festival celebrated as grandly as in Den Bosch.
Yet, according to him, after a hundred years there are still residents of Den Bosch who do not know that Epiphany is celebrated so widely in their city. “I don’t understand how that is possible, but it is time to change that.”
On Sunday, January 7, from half past four in the afternoon, the Epiphany procession will pass through Den Bosch again.
